ead. This is his greatest fault, and it is one for which
he must be corrected. However, taken altogether, I say again, he is a good
child; and by treating him with allowance, and at the same time with
firmness, which must be kept clear of severity, we shall always be able to
do all that we can wish with him. But severity would revolt him, for he
has a great deal of resolution for his age. To give you an instance: from
his very earliest childhood the word _pardon_ has always offended him. He
will say and do all that you can wish when he is wrong, but as for the
word _pardon_, he never pronounces it without tears and infinite
difficulty.

"I have always accustomed my children to have great confidence in me, and,
when they have done wrong, to tell me themselves; and then, when I scold
them, this enables me to appear pained and afflicted at what they have
done rather than angry. I have accustomed them all to regard 'yes' or
'no,' once uttered by me, as irrevocable; but I always give them reasons
for my decision, suitable to their ages, to prevent their thinking that my
decision comes from ill-humor. My son can not read, and he is very slow at
learning; but he is too giddy to apply. He has no pride in his heart, and
I am very anxious that he should continue to feel so. Our children always
learn soon enough what they are. He is very fond of his sister, and has a
good heart. Whenever any thing gives him pleasure, whether it be the going
anywhere, or that any one gives him any thing, his first movement always
is to ask that his sister may have the same. He is light-hearted by
nature. It is necessary for his health that he should be a great deal in
the open air; and I think it is better to let him play and work in the
garden on the terrace, than to take him longer walks. The exercise which
children take in running about and playing in the open air is much more
healthy than forcing them to walk, which often makes their backs
ache.[10]"

Some of these last recommendations may seem to show that the governess
was, to some extent, regarded as a nurse as well as a teacher; and when we
find Marie Antoinette complaining of want of discretion in a child of four
years old, it may perhaps be thought that she is expecting rather more of
such tender years than is often found in them; that she is inclined to be
overexacting rather than overindulgent; an error the more venial, since it
is probable that the educators of princes are more likely